About Us

Program Partners

National League of Cities
The National League of Cities is an organization comprised of city, town and village leaders that are focused on improving the quality of life for their current and future constituents. With over 90 years of dedication to the strength, health and advancement of local governments, NLC has gained the trust and support of more than 2,000 cities across the nation. Together, our mission is to strengthen local leadership, influence federal policy and drive innovative solutions.

United States Conference of Mayors
The United States Conference of Mayors is the official non-partisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are over 1,400 such cities in the country today. Each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor.

Results for America
Results for America is helping decision-makers at all levels of government harness the power of evidence and data to solve our world’s greatest challenges. Our mission is to make investing in what works the “new normal,” so that when policymakers make decisions, they start by seeking the best evidence and data available, then use what they find to get better results.

Delivery Associates
Delivery Associates works closely with governments and social impact organizations all over the world to turn big ideas into real impact. Their team understands the challenges people face in implementing policies, and devise systems and software and provides training to help them to achieve their goals.

Jacobs Urban Tech Hub at Cornell Tech
The Urban Tech Hub of the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech generates applied research, fosters an expanding tech ecosystem, and cultivates the next generation of leaders in urban technology. The Hub shapes the field of urban tech with a human-centered approach that focuses first on the people that use the technology. The Hub advances technology research and education to build a better world by increasing access and opportunity within the tech sector

U.S. Digital Response
USDR leverages a network of pro bono technical expertise to address common, systemic challenges facing public servants. We believe that modern and resilient technology applied in the public interest can deliver people-centered services at the speed of need. We operate with humility and deep respect for our partners, aiming to leave them better equipped to deliver services and support to millions of people. As of November 2022, USDR has partnered with more than 260 government and nonprofit partners on more than 330 projects, impacting more than 42 million people across 36 states and territories. We’ve built a dedicated community of over 7,000 pro bono specialists driven to serve in a time of need.

Accelerator for America
Accelerator for America finds and develops solutions to economic insecurity and shares them with local, state and federal leaders to increase economic mobility, attract and leverage public and private investment, fund infrastructure, and deliver a more inclusive recovery. Our work is uniquely driven by our network of Mayors and other leaders from the public, private, philanthropic, labor, non-profit, and academic sectors.

Urban Sustainability Directors Network
USDN brings local government sustainability practitioners together to learn, collaborate, and accelerate the work of local sustainability. By equipping them with the knowledge, resources, and partnerships they need to succeed, USDN helps advance change locally in member communities as well as across the field of practice. The aggregate impact and influence of our collective work makes an equitable, resilient, and sustainable society more attainable.

Program Supporters

Ballmer Group
Ballmer Group is committed to improving economic mobility and opportunity for children and families in the United States. Ballmer Group was founded in 2015. Since then, our focus and impact areas have continued to expand, informed by our grantees’ work and by data that shows where the deepest inequities lie. We employ levers of change that hold promise for long-term system improvements. Ballmer Group is both a national and regional funder – we have a presence and invest deeply in southeast Michigan, Los Angeles County, and Washington state – and our organization is set up to work collaboratively to meet our mission.

Bloomberg Philanthropies
Bloomberg Philanthropies works to ensure better, longer lives for the greatest number of people by focusing on five key areas: the arts, education, the environment, government innovation, and public health. Encompassing all of Mike Bloomberg’s giving, Bloomberg Philanthropies includes his foundation, corporate, and personal philanthropy as well as Bloomberg Associates, a pro bono consultancy that works with mayors in cities around the world.

Emerson Collective
We work in pursuit of a world where every individual has access to opportunity, health, and well-being. We bring together entrepreneurs and academics, artists, community leaders and more to build solutions that spur measurable, lasting change. We work collectively to make the greatest difference possible.

Ford Foundation
We believe in the inherent dignity of all people. But around the world, too many people are excluded from the political, economic, and social institutions that shape their lives. Across eight decades, our mission has sought to reduce poverty and injustice, strengthen democratic values, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement.

The Kresge Foundation
The Kresge Foundation is a private, national foundation that works to expand opportunities in America’s cities through grantmaking and social investing in arts and culture, education, environment, health, human services and community development, nationally and in Detroit, Memphis and New Orleans. In collaboration with our partners, we help create pathways for people with low incomes to improve their life circumstances and join the economic mainstream.

Waverley Street Foundation
The voices, experiences, and innovations of communities around the world have a central place in protecting people, nature, health, and our planet. Waverley Street Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, supports farmers, students, Indigenous peoples, advocates, and many others working in the places they call home. Waverley Street has committed to spend the entirety of its endowment — more than $3 billion as of 2022 — by 2035 to support organizations working on solutions at the intersection of climate change and community priorities.